(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge-type inline heater, and a system for controlling a working fluid temperature using the same, and more particularly, to a cartridge-type inline heater capable of heating a working fluid so as to have a uniform temperature gradient, and a system for controlling a working fluid temperature using the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, flow assurance in mining oil and gas refers to assurance of stable and economic transference of oil and gas by controlling a temperature, a flow rate, and pressure of a flow within a pipe line through which a resource material is transferred from a reserve place to a consumption place after the resource material is minded.
In the meantime, the most significant factor influencing on flow assurance of the pipe line in transferring resources of an offshore plant including a deep sea floor mainly includes a clogged-up phenomenon of a pipe line due to a solid material, such as gas hydrate or wax, damage to the pipe line due to a slugging phenomenon of a multiphase flow, a change in a flow speed due to large pressure drop within the pipe line, a change in viscosity, and thermal loss.
Accordingly, in order to secure flow assurance of the pipe line, it is necessary to control a temperature of a working fluid within in the pipe line in order to prevent the solid material, such as gas hydrate or wax, from being generated.
In the meantime, in a case of a heat unit process of a petrochemical plant and an internal unit process of a nuclear plant system, the working fluid flowing through the process accompanies various phase changes. In this case, a pipe-type inline heater is greatly used for the purpose of controlling a temperature of the working fluid during the transference of the working fluid from each unit process to a next unit process.
The heater uses a method in which a heater is mounted in a pipe-type flow path connecting the respective unit processes, and the working fluid flowing through heat generated from the heater is heated.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an inline heater in the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the inline heater 10 in the related art generally employs a method of directly heating a working fluid by mounting a coil-type metal heating element 12 inside a pipe 11.
However, in a case of the inline heater 10 in the related art, the inserted coil-type metal heating element 12 is directly exposed to the working fluid so that the coil-type metal heating element 12 is vulnerable to physical damage, and has a problem of a short lifespan. Particularly, in a case where even a part of the coil-type metal heating element 12 is a short circuit, a lot of time is taken for replacing or repairing the coil-type metal heating element 12, so that there is a problem in that a yield of the entire process is decreased.
Further, there is a problem in that a calorie supplied to a region in which the metal heating element 12 is mounted is different from a calorie supplied to a region in which the metal heating element 12 is not mounted, and uniformity of a temperature distribution of the working fluid heated inside the pipe is not secured.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.